


Connect the Dots

by cleopatras



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Humor, Enemies to Lovers, First Kiss, Heartbreak, I miss these two, M/M, Steve is sad, in honor of stranger things 3 on thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 16:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19445449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cleopatras/pseuds/cleopatras
Summary: an alternate universe in which Will never went missing, Barb is alive, but Steve Harrington is still utterly and pathetically heartbroken.





	Connect the Dots

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on a whim and this probably really sucks because it's 12 am and I haven't written for this pair in so long but oh well

Steve Harrington was, without a doubt, an absolute mess since Nancy Wheeler broke his heart. He didn’t know which hurt more, the fact that she dumped him both while drunk and while sober or the fact that at the bottom of his heart he knew she never loved him. Girls like her would never love boys like Steve. Boys like him were too worse for wear. From the surface, he was the perfect pretty boy for a good girl like her to have in her clutches, but there was so much more beneath him that was never meant for a girl like Nancy. Every girl always left when they learned about the abandonment issues, the trust issues, the issues with issues. Maybe this happened over six months ago, but he had been alone for so long while the hole she left in his heart grew deeper and deeper. So yes, he was still bitter. 

That was why on the fourth of July, Steve Harrington was utterly and bitterly alone. Independence day was by no means a romantic holiday, but Steve didn’t even have his friends with him. He had called them out and ditched them all for Nancy. To be fair, his friends were douchebags whether or not he was with Nancy, but it still was rubbing salt in the wound to think of her being the one to make him realize. 

Hawkins, despite being a small town, was oddly patriotic. The sun was just beginning to set and Steve could already hear the snap of firecrackers going off. He was lounging by himself on a pool chair, always by himself. His jeans were cuffed as one leg hung off the chair just barely grazing the chilled water of his backyard pool. A bottle of bourbon he stole from his absent parents was clutched in his fist as he took sips and pondered. He usually wasn’t a liquor person, but it was a holiday. He closed his eyes beneath his sunglasses and listened to Queen pour through his Walk-Man.

Steve had all but dozed off in the lazy evening sunset when a cough brought his attention to someone passing by in the woods. Lazily he pulled down the sunglasses and eyed the person disturbing his pity party of relaxation time. 

“Does this qualify as trespassing or no, Byers?” Steve mused in a dull, annoyed voice. Jonathan seemed to still use the camera Steve had gotten him over a year ago as he was sitting on the edge of the forest with the device in his hands.

“Not if I was questioning whether to call the police for finding your dead, boozed out body,” the boy shrugged, “Shouldn’t you be at Tina’s party getting drunk with all your friends?”

The boy scoffed, outwardly dismissing Jonathan’s statement with a pitiful laugh, “Those people aren’t my friends. Never have been. I much prefer the company of me, myself, and I, now leave me be please.”

“Oh, my God you sound like such a Gatsby. Are you gazing at your green lantern? Wishing for your long lost lover?” Jonathan spoke mockingly, but if only he knew how right he actually was. It was absolutely miserable the state Steve was in right now, wishing he had Nancy by his side while he got utterly wasted on borrowed booze. 

“I’d laugh, but I never paid attention when we read that last year,” Steve shouted back, knowing his tone wasn’t nearly as mocking as the other. “If you’re gonna mock me at least drink while you do it.” 

Jonathan looked surprised but climbed through the bushes into Steve’s backyard regardless. “You’re that lonely? Inviting me for a drink?”

“Yeah, don’t think too highly of yourself, buttercup,” Steve shook his head, handing the bottle over as Jonathan sat in the pool chair next to him, “Sorry for the lack of glasses I wasn’t planning on getting verbally assaulted by my ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend this evening.”

Surprisingly, the other shook his head, “Nancy’s not my girlfriend. Last year you got totally jealous over literally nothing happening.”

“What do you mean? She’s head over heels for you and never loved me, just go for it,” Steve groaned, wishing they would get together just so he had something to barf over. 

“She’s not my type,” Jonathan shrugged as he took another sip. 

“Stop taking pussy sips, dude. What is your type then?”

He shrugged again. “Not Nancy. Not your business either.”

“Oh, cagey, are we? Why is there someone else you have your eye on? I mean, not to sound pathetic, but Nancy’s hard to say no to. Trust me on that one.”

“I’m gonna be honest, you sound pathetic regardless,” the boy bit back with a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “But I accepted your drinking buddy invitation so I can’t really speak on pathetic.”

“Why do you talk like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re trying to impress someone,” Steve wondered. 

“Maybe I am.”

The Harrington boy furrowed his brow at that statement, looking at the other boy with a confused expression, “I’m no one worth impressing. I’m kind of at rock bottom right now. I’ve been here for a while.”

“Steve, stop throwing yourself a pity party. You got dumped, move on. Go to college in the city where there are more than five cute girls your age. Stop thinking about the girl who’s not worth your time and start thinking about people who are,” Jonathan spoke with a scoff, “You need some friends, dude. Maybe a new girlfriend while you’re at it.”

“I’m perfectly fine drinking until I forget how much it hurts to be alone, thank you,” Steve spoke spitefully while he stared at the ripples his foot was making in the crystal clear water. He hated how much of a lie that was. He hated being alone. Maybe he really had peaked in high school. That would be awful considering he barely made it out with a diploma. 

Jonathan was right not to believe Steve’s words, saying, “Considering you won’t even look at me when you say that, I can tell you’re lying.” 

“Shut up and pass the bourbon, Byers.” 

“Why won’t you look me in the eyes?”

Steve sat up and shoved the sunglasses onto his head while he met Jonathan’s eyes and ripped the bottle out of his hands, “Because I’m a high school has-been and I’m fucking pathetic. It’s barely a month into summer and I’m already washed up.” 

“Do something about it,” was Jonathan’s biting remark, “God, how do you fire me up so quickly? I was just trying to take photos in the woods but I had to disturb your ass.” 

“Can’t you just punch me already so I can feel something other than dried-up heartbreak?” 

Jonathan shrugged, “Too predictable. I’ll just do this instead.” 

Quickly, the boy took the bottle from Steve’s hand and placed it on the small table next to his chair before turning back around and grabbing the other boy’s face gently. To Steve’s complete and utter surprise, Jonathan pressed their lips together softly. More shocking was that Steve liked it enough to start kissing back on pure instinct. Now, he had never kissed a boy before, but he had completely forgotten what it felt like to kiss anyone else in the span of three seconds. As if on cue, the first of the night’s fireworks exploded as the sun had finally set. How fitting. For a moment, Jonathan smiled into the kiss. Just after, he pulled away and grabbed Steve by the shirt. Making sure the forgotten Walk-Man was safely out of the way, Jonathan shoved Steve into the pool with a laugh. 

“What the hell was that for?” Steve shouted, but a smile was plastered on his face for the first time in far too long. 

Jonathan bent down so he was almost face-to-face with a now-soaked Steve, “You’re my type, it’s you I was trying to impress, have you connected the dots yet?”

“You’re insane,” Steve smiled. He reached up and grabbed Jonathan’s hand, pulling him down to kiss him again. Of course, realistically Steve knew they probably wouldn’t speak much after this, but he was going to enjoy the break from loneliness while it lasted. After this, he pulled away and tugged on Jonathan’s hand, pulling him into the pool with him. Thankfully, the camera sat untouched on the ground by the pool chair. “Consider the dots connected.”


End file.
